CMG win at Local Ireland awards

The winners in this year’s Local Ireland Media Awards were announced at a gala dinner in Bloomfield House Hotel last Thursday evening, and Celtic Media Group took four of them from 14 nominations.

The host on the evening was Marty Morrissey from RTÉ sport and it was sponsored by the National Lottery.

President of Local Ireland Declan McGuire said: “Local Ireland represents newspapers and online news publishers right across the country. We had a record number of entries this year, which were for our seventh awards.

“I want to thank the National Lottery for their sponsorship of an event that reflects the valuable work that our journalists do in support of their communities. Along with the nominees and winners, the whole sector should be congratulated on the quality of this year’s entries.”

Frank Mulrennan, chief executive of Celtic Media Group, said his company (which the Westmeath Examiner is part of) are proud to have four winners and 14 nominations in the awards.

“I want to congratulate our winners and nominees from across the news and advertising sales departments in The Anglo-Celt, Meath Chronicle, Westmeath Examiner and Westmeath Independent. I am particularly delighted that we were nominated for our digital journalism in the Westmeath Examiner.

“Our newspapers have been publishing journalism of the highest standard for almost 175 years and we have are currently successfully migrating to a multi-platform offering of print; online and social media. These awards reflect the professionalism and dedication of our journalists and sales consultants.”

Bob Hughes, the executive director of Local Ireland, added: “I want to thank the judges for the care they have taken in assessing more than 600 entries.

“It was great to have an opportunity for the sector to come together again to celebrate at our first in-person event in three years.”

A special presentation was made on the night to honour the career of Johnny O’Hanlon, former editor of The Anglo-Celt in Cavan and a former director of Local Ireland.

The judging panel for the awards was chaired by entrepreneur and broadcaster Áine Kerr, joined by author and broadcaster Dearbhail McDonald, Emeritus Professor at TUD Michael Foley, broadcaster and writer Valerie Cox, journalist and author PJ Cunningham, Dawn Wheatley of DCU School of Communications, managing director of Kinetic Ireland Andrew Sinclair and photographer and former Irish Times picture editor Frank Miller.

Celtic Media award winners:

Best Advertising Campaign, Westmeath Independent; Best Use of Social Media, Meath Chronicle; Columnist of the Year, Paul Fitzpatrick, The Anglo-Celt; and Best News Story, The Anglo-Celt.